The family of a Minster woman fled Kent after she stabbed a man in the street with a penknife.

Samantha Emerson plunged the weapon into victim Robin Ling after a series of arguments between their two families.

But the 42-year-old mum claimed she did not know why she attacked Mr Ling in Monkton Road, Minster, in 2015.

Her barrister, Madeleine Wolfe, told the judge: “I have asked her why… but she says she can’t remember why she did it.

“She was standing in the group and suddenly she lunges and stabs him. She just can’t remember doing it.”

After the incident, Emerson – formerly of Molineux Road, Minster – moved her husband and family to the north of England for a fresh start.

Canterbury Crown Court heard how she entered a guilty plea minutes before she was due to go on trial for wounding with intent and possessing an offensive weapon.

She was jailed for four and a half years after Judge Christopher Critchlow asked: “How has a woman of her age come to do this?”

Ms Wolfe answered: “That’s a question I have persistently asked her but I don’t have an answer.”

Prosecutor Simon Taylor said there had been accusations and denials from friends and members of both families prior to the incident in September 2015.

The attack was captured on CCTV, and images of a group of people gathering near The Saddler pub in Minster were shown to the judge.

Emerson is seen to be standing near the back before taking out a penknife, which she claimed was attached to her key fob, and then stabbing Mr Ling in the abdomen.

The victim then staggered back before collapsing. He was left with a two-centimetre wound and a punctured lower intestine.

Mr Ling was taken to hospital, and Mr Taylor said he was left with a five-inch scar.

“You are a wife and a mother and have never been trouble... but for some reason you stabbed your victim without provocation” - judge Christopher Critchlow

He said Emerson later claimed she had been threatened with being kidnapped and having her family’s heads chopped off – but the Ling family denied this.

School cleaner Emerson also alleged that on the night of the attack jewellery was taken during a burglary at her house.

The judge said the victim had not been involved in any of the previous disputes but was alleged to have said “something provocative” outside the pub.

He told Emerson: “You are a wife and a mother and have never been trouble in your life.

“You have spent your life raising a family and helping others, including your husband and friends.

“But on that night you went out into the street carrying with you a penknife, and for some reason for which you have never explained, you opened the knife and suddenly stabbed your victim without provocation from him.”